3-Island Pacific Nation Goes 100 Percent Renewable

There's more than one way to become energy independent and go off the grid. In the first week of November, residents of a three-island Pacific nation were slated to switch over to a system that produces electricity from solar power and biofuel derived from coconuts.

Tokelau, a place north of Samoa administered as a region of New Zealand, is expected to generate more than 100 percent of its electricity needs from sustainable sources. Its 1,411 citizens reside in the Atafu, Nukunonu, and Fakaofo atolls, which cover more than 10 square kilometers combined. The government of Tokelau decided in 2004 to increase energy efficiency and independence by focusing on renewable sources, in part to defray the high costs of importing diesel for generators.

Residents of Tokelau will get all their electricity from solar power and coconut-derived biofuel.Shown here is the solar energy installation on the atoll of Nukunonu.(Source: PowerSmart)

The Tokelau Renewable Energy Project, funded by New Zealand Aid, consists of three separate electrical systems (one for each island), each with its own battery storage. Each island's system is one of the world's largest off-grid solar systems, according to a blog post by PowerSmart, the New Zealand company serving as the project's lead contractor. In the past few months, the project has installed 4,032 photovoltaic panels and 1,344 batteries on the three atolls. Locally produced coconut-based biofuel will power generators that will handle overflow demand and recharge battery banks. The systems were designed to withstand high temperatures, salt-laden air, and the risks of flooding and cyclones.

Biofuels have been in the news a lot recently. In nearby Vanuatu, purified coconut oil is being used to fuel automobiles and minubuses. A Canadian jet recently became the first civilian plane to fly on 100 percent nonfood biofuel. Transesterification can convert coconut oil into a biodiesel compatible with diesel engines, though this is an expensive process and requires materials not readily available in the Pacific. During World War II, coconut oil was used in the Philippines as a substitute for diesel.

Though the European Commission has called for even stricter limits on the use of food crops for producing transportation biofuels, a feasibility report for Tokelau's solar/biofuel system called coconuts an underused local resource. The report concluded that this use of coconuts (which are abundant on the islands) would not hurt the environment, since the biodiesel would cover only 10 percent of the system's total energy needs.

The renewable energy system's original specification called for the solar panels to supply 90 percent of the islands' electricity. But a combination of sheer volume and engineering innovation means the system will provide 150 percent of the islands' current electricity needs, according to PowerSmart. The headroom will allow the islanders to expand their use of electricity without using expensive diesel fuel.

Each island had been using about 200 gallons of diesel a day to generate electricity. This was not only expensive but also challenging, because of the environmental risks involved in unloading diesel drums on tropical islands.

"The Pacific has a massive problem in importing its fossil fuel requirements, largely for power generation and transportation," Anirudh Singh, associate professor of physics at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, said in an Inter Press Service article on the new system. "This is due to its isolated and scattered small populations. And replacing these fuels is the top priority as the import bills are exorbitant."

The combined solar/biofuel system will go a long way toward fulfilling that goal, as well as decreasing environmental impacts.

That is fantastic. Lessons learned here are, reduce your energy demands in how you live, and use renewables. However, in a modern urban society, is that even possible? Since it takes years to pay off the price of alternative energy products, could a USA based city follow suit? I would image that the surface area needed in solar panels to power Chicago, let's say, would replace a lot of the surrounding suburbs.

Even if you look at becoming a island unto yourself, the surface area for 100% solar power replacement of the grid would cover more land than the average person has available to them. Also, the cost, at current prices, would hover around $50,000 USD on up.

Hopfully, the work done on Tokelau will help promote similar styles of living globally.

I think your points are well taken, and they show up the fact that modern mega-cities are not the best way to inhabit the land. In cities, it does take a long time to pay off the price of alternatives, but that's because the infrastructure in this dense, crowded area is simply not set up to a) generate and b) distribute alternative fuels and energy sources. That's not the case in rural areas and especially in places like Tokelau where people live more simply, consume less, still have enough resources available to make their own fuels, and sources are closer to end-points, so distribution doesn't require long distances traveled. Regarding solar energy, panels are not the simplest, cheapest or most effective way to go. Passive solar construction, which does require correct siting, has been done by humans for thousands of years, and is still being done today.

I have not checked the lattitude of the islands but I question the cost of solar verses wind generation. Battery quanity may be the same but the land use may have been significantly less. On any island land is valuable. Be it Manhattan or an atoll in the pacific.

Chuck, the system will actually supply 150% of each island's electricity needs, although the original spec called for 90%. The Pacific is an area with a lot of sunshine, and some of them also have high potential for wind, hydro and geothermal energy.

Here in Oklahoma you would think that wind generation would work well. The south west portion of Oklahoma is on the edge of the plains in the Texas panhandle and receives considerably less moisture than central Oklahoma. A company studied the area north of Lawton/Fort Sill and finally decided it would be a great location for wind generation and "ranchers" would receive lease payments. After a few years it has been decided it is not near as profitable as thought. Wind generators generate at a fairly low wind speed and the wind usually dies down to nothing at night. BTW, wind generators are not near as nice to look at as the pink granite mountains they sit around.

It will intresting to see how solar power works out for island nations.

S Baker, wind was addressed in the feasibility report, and is continuing to be explored. The report says the amount available is not as high as would be required for mainland use, but is worth looking into since fuel costs on the islands have been so high.

Get a Grip S Baker. You sound like a DC bureaucrat. Someone on the planet has ACTUALLY DONE SOMETHING instead of held endless congressional and senate hearings, seminars, luncheons, studies and conferences about it. Look it up on Wiki. The place looks like paradise. I think I've finally found somewhere to move to.

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